How to buy a house without a realtor...

Has anyone done it? What steps are involved? TIA


(If both the buyer and the seller would be without a real estate agent.)

Message edited 4/18/2011 11:49:55 PM.

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

The basic steps to buying a house - - whether you have a realtor or not -- are:

1. Make an offer to the seller and negotiate until you agree on price;

2. Once you have an accepted offer, have a home inspection done (although you can sign contracts first, and make the contract contingent on the home inspection);

3. Have the attorneys (yours and the sellers) prepare the contract (usually the sellers' attorney prepares the initial draft and then they go back and forth until they agree on the contract);

4. Both parties sign the contract (buyer signs first);

5. Buyer applies for a mortgage, if financing is needed and loan is processed by bank, reviewed by underwriters, etc.;

6. Bank will do an appraisal on the house;

7. Attorney will run title report on house;

8. Bank will issue mortgage commitment;

9. If no issues arise, closing date is set;

10. Do final walk through before closing to make sure property is in the same condition it was when you made your offer.

11. Close.

I wouldn't recommend foregoing an agent. Many sellers who are trying to sell on their own either plan to sell to a friend or family member, or are unrealistic about price/need to get more than the house is worth in today's market. Of course, there are exceptions, but I am making generalizations based on what I have seen to be true.

Are you comfortable negotiating with a seller on your own? Negotiations can be tough, especially among parties who are emotionally involved. Also, agents are more experienced negotiators -- they do it on a regular basis, whereas most buyers and sellers only buy or sell a few times in their lifetime.

Agents have knowledge about the process and the paperwork (e.g., lead paint disclosures) and can handle questions. An agent can help you identify and address potential issues with the property at the outset (such as missing COs). Without an agent working with you, you will need to rely on your attorney a lot more for things your agent could have handled as the deal progresses. And that can add up -- attorneys charge by the hour, whereas your agent gets paid a set fee, and only when the deal closes (and even then, the seller is paying the agents' commissions out of the sale proceeds).

If you are interested in buying a FSBO property, an agent can still help you do that (you don't need to enter into a purchase without an agent just because the seller doesn't have one).

Hope this helps!

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

we bought our house without using a realtor and it was a really smooth process. FM if you have any questions!

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

I bought my house w/o an agent, and I actually regret it.

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

We bought an FSBO in 2007 - it wasn't advertised, it was by word of mouth. Kids were looking to sell their parents home (they had just been moved to assisted living) and a friend of a friend told us about it.

We got a good deal in this instance by not going through a realtor but, it was very difficult going into it blind. We were just in the early stages of actively looking and compared to everything we saw in the area in our price range, this home blew them all away (and was priced less still).

Thankfully, a good family friend is an RE in our area who was able to walk us through the process and recommend an engineer for the home inspection and a great attorney to help us through the process.

Christine's post is very informative and raises some good points. Most of the advertised FSBOs I've seen either never sold or are now listed with a realtor. The only successful ones I've known of were word of mouth sales similar to ours.

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

We sold a house without a realtor and the pple who bought it didn't have one.

Did "For Sale By Owner"
the pple saw it on the site and contacted us. We got a lot of contacts from it. Yes, we also heard from a lot of realtors.
Worked directly with the pple and it went real smooth. They were actually a young couple. A few years younger than us. We even keep in touch with them.

Re: How to buy a house without a realtor...

We bought a house from an estate. They offered it to us before going to a realtor, knowing we were casually looking without a realtor.

We hired an attorney (Wendi Lindsey - vendor on here) and she was great for the entire process. The estate also had their own attorney. I'm surprised at how easy it was.